Cannot connect to multiplayer games anymore

[gundelgauk]

Hi,

 

I'm having trouble and I'm at a total loss here. I'd be glad for any advice or ideas you might have.

 

 

Until today I was perfectly able to join multiplayer games and play on HL. No problems whatsoever. Then today it just stopped working. I changed nothing at all no router settings, no game settings, nothing. I just cannot connect to any game anymore, it hangs when trying to connect to the server and after maybe 15-20 seconds the game breaks up the connection attempt.

 

This is what I already tried:

- Forward TCP and UDP ports 10308 to my computer (I'm behind a masquerading linux router, I did not have to do port forwarding before to join games).

- Complete reinstallation of 1.12a (1.0 -> 1.1 -> 1.12a).

- Tried it under another operating system with a (again) fresh installation.

- Connecting to 1.02 games on UBI with a fresh 1.02 installation. Same problem there.

 

None of these helped. Again, I did not change any router/firewall or game settings before it stopped working. Still, I took a close look at my firewall logs and they don't show any blocked traffic between me and the servers.

 

 

At this point I'm at a loss. Maybe it's something completely obvious that I'm missing... I'm just out of ideas at the moment. Any ideas please? :helpsmilie:

[Aeroscout]

I dunno.

 

Just try this. create a new e-mail address with yahoo or something. (or if you already have another one, use that) and log in under an other call sign.

 

other than that, i dont know much about networking and internet and such, so i cant help you too much., sorry

[gundelgauk]

create a new e-mail address with yahoo or something. (or if you already have another one, use that) and log in under an other call sign.

 

Ah yes, I tried that as well, I forgot to put it into my OP. No luck unfortunately. But thanks!

[S77th-GOYA]

Have you tried to connect to a server directly? No HL?

[S77th-konkussion]

Is it possible that something was changed via an automatic software update? Maybe you need to forward the ports now, even if this was ot the case before?

[gundelgauk]

Is it possible that something was changed via an automatic software update? Maybe you need to forward the ports now, even if this was ot the case before?

That's why I tried adding port forwarding, unfortunately it didn't help.

 

Have you tried to connect to a server directly? No HL?

I just wanted to try that but I can't figure out how to find out the IP addresses of the servers via HL so that I can enter them manually. But I will keep trying and see if that works, thanks!

[S77th-konkussion]

S77th server is 66.165.113.50

 

Network play

select client button

enter IP @ 128/128

[S77th-konkussion]

There is also a thread here somewhere with the IP's listed.. Don;t know if any of the info has changed for the other servers..

 

http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=9645

[gundelgauk]

Thanks, I just tried it with a few IPs but same result, after 20 seconds or so it jumps back to "Start", ie not connected mode.

 

I think I must be going crazy. If I have some spare time later I will try installing FC on my laptop, start a game on it and see if I can connect.

[S77th-GOYA]

Did you change your timeout settings with the new install?

[gundelgauk]

No, I always used the default values. When I was searching the forum for possible solutions I found a post that said change the default values in Config\network\config.lua to this:

 

 

gameTimeout = 500;

idleTimeout = 500;

 

 

It was about a slightly different problem though and when I tried it, it didn't help either.

[S77th-GOYA]

http://forum.lockon.ru/showpost.php?p=56330&postcount=82

[S77th-ReOrdain]

If you changed nothing, and now it doesn't work, I'd be willing to bet that it's a hardware issue. I have experienced something similar to what you're describing. Unfortunately, I don't know enough to be able to direct you to the right troubleshooting procedures other than your basic diagnostic tests.

 

Lock On seems to tax a PC like no other game. In the end, I always ended up replacing some hardware component to fix the problem. Not suggesting you need to do the same, but it's something to look at. 'Cause if nothing changed (config wise), you would still be able to connect.

[gundelgauk]

http://forum.lockon.ru/showpost.php?p=56330&postcount=82

Yes, that's the kind of thing I was talking about, however I my problem is not that I'm getting disconnected because of a timeout. I cannot connect to the server in the first place. I never get to the coalition/plane selection menu.

 

Still I just tried the exact same settings as in that post and no difference.

 

However the pingPeriod = 1; line made me curious. My router rejects (ICMP) pings, could that be related to my problem? That would be strange though because it has always been that way and it used to work fine.

 

If you changed nothing, and now it doesn't work, I'd be willing to bet that it's a hardware issue.

That's an interesting idea. I will install FC on my laptop and do some tests later or tomorrow.

EDIT: May I ask how you narrowed your problem down to a specific component? Did you just try replacing all components one by one or were there some clues? Also which component was at fault in the end in your case please?

 

'Cause if nothing changed (config wise), you would still be able to connect.

That's exactly what's driving me nuts. :D

[S77th-ReOrdain]

At least once it was a graphics card issue. I first started noticing other anamolies (glitches, longer loading times, graphic inconsistencies, etc. . . .). Sometimes a reboot would solve it, sometimes it wouldn't. I could connect and play for a period of time, but performance would continue to degrade.

 

Consequently, I ended up cleaning it thouroughly of the dust build up on fan and monitoring the temperature. This worked for a while, but eventually the performance was not good enough for Lock On, whereas, it was still good enough for other games. Again, just speculating. But, replacing the graphics card in that instance solved the problem. Unfortunately, that's a costly fix. I hope it's something else.

[gundelgauk]

Well it's a possibility. Yeah, it would be costly but at least I would be able to fix it then. Thanks, I will know more about this after I try FC on my laptop. If it's in any way a hardware issue, I should be able to play on it just fine.

[rogue_blade]

i possibly have a similar problem. about two weeks ago i can no longer connect to games. and when it does on the odd occasion i get about 5000+ ping. my messeges are really delayed when i type in hyperlobby and i cant connect to ventrillo or ts anymore.....pretty much ruined my life....im on a univeristy lan btw. but everyone used to work fine

[Ironhand]

Just for chuckles, here are the vanilla ME and Config folders: RESTORE FOLDERS. You might want to try backing up yours and giving these a try in their place. Then at least you'll know if it's a problem within the sim itself.

 

Rich

[S77th-konkussion]

By pass the router totally to see if this is where the problem lies. At least you'll have something specific to focus on.

[Kula66]

Maybe a silly question, but can you ping the servers? Using PING on the command line.

Have you tried disabling all firewalls you have control over? WinXP and router?

[gundelgauk]

Ok, I've had some time and tried a few things.

 

 

First of all, I installed FC 1.12a on my laptop and tried connecting to a HL server with it. It doesn't work either. However if I set up a game server on my laptop and connect to it with my desktop computer via LAN it works fine. Really strange.

 

Earlier in this thread I began to suspect that it could have something to do with my router rejecting ICMP pings (just a wild guess really), so I enabled ping. I used a website that offers a ping tool to confirm that pings actually get through to me but that didn't help with my problem either.

 

Can you ping the servers? Using PING on the command line.

Have you tried disabling all firewalls you have control over? WinXP and router?

Ping works fine on the IP that konkussion posted.

Antwort von 66.165.113.50: Bytes=32 Zeit=206ms TTL=119
Antwort von 66.165.113.50: Bytes=32 Zeit=177ms TTL=119

I tried disabling the XP firewall. No luck.

It's not as easy with my router firewall because I need some rules for masquerading (NAT), otherwise it won't act as a router at all. However it logs any packets/connections that are blocked and I don't get any messages related to my attemps to connect to the servers at all. This means that in theory I shouldn't have any problems.

 

Also I can connect to servers with other games like always. It seems that for some reason LockOn is the only game giving me trouble.

 

If there are people on here who have experience with linux iptables, I'd gladly post my firewall script, maybe there's something in there that's giving me trouble that I'm not seeing.

 

By pass the router totally to see if this is where the problem lies. At least you'll have something specific to focus on.

That's a great idea, however the whole network setup here is rather complicated and doing that will take a few hours. So I don't know when I'll be able to do this. At the latest I should be able to try that on week end.

 

 

Thank you all who are trying to help me. :)

[Kula66]

Ok ... so you have basic connectivity. Could you ISP have done something? I use BT in the UK and they always screw things up in the name of 'Improvements to customer service'!

[GGTharos]

What does your config/network.lua file look like?

[gundelgauk]

Could you ISP have done something?

Actually that possibility crossed my mind. But I honestly can't imagine that. Why would they do something as arbitrary as block connections on port 10308? If by the end of the week I can't get it to work, I will call them and ask about it though.

 

What does your config/network.lua file look like?

Sorry, I don't have such a file. Do you by chance mean config\network\config.lua ?

 

If so, this is it:

-- This file was automagically generated. Edit with care. :)
[b]gameTimeout = 500;[/b]
maxPacketSize = 500;
playerName = "gundelgauk";
[b]idleTimeout = 500;[/b]
stats {
   enable = true;
   file = "Temp/mp_log.txt";
};
chat {
   height = 95;
   delay = 10000;
};
serverFiles = {
   [1] = "./Bazar/Names.lua";
   [2] = "./Bazar/Racks.lua";
   [3] = "./Bazar/Types.lua";
   [4] = "./Config/Weapons/Guns.lua";
   [5] = "./Config/Weapons/DrawInfo.lua";
   [6] = "./Config/Weapons/Bombs.lua";
   [7] = "./Config/Planes/Pylons.lua";
   [8] = "./Config/Planes/Damage.lua";
   [9] = "./Config/Planes/AIControl.lua";
   [10] = "./Config/Export/Config.lua";
   [11] = "./Config/View/Server.lua";
   [12] = "./Config/View/Labels.lua";
   [13] = "./Config/World/World.lua";
   [14] = "./Config/Network/stats.lua";
};
configList = {
   ["xDSL 2048/2048 Kbit/s"] = {
       downstream = 256000;
       upstream = 256000;
   };
   ["LAN 10 Mbit/s"] = {
       downstream = 500000;
       upstream = 500000;
   };
   ["Modem 56.6K"] = {
       downstream = 5000;
       upstream = 3000;
   };
   ["xDSL 128/128 Kbit/s"] = {
       downstream = 16000;
       upstream = 16000;
   };
   ["Modem 33.6K"] = {
       downstream = 3000;
       upstream = 1000;
   };
   ["LAN 100 Mbit/s"] = {
       downstream = 5000000;
       upstream = 5000000;
   };
   ["xDSL 1024/128 Kbit/s"] = {
       downstream = 128000;
       upstream = 16000;
   };
   ["xDSL 256/128 Kbit/s"] = {
       downstream = 32000;
       upstream = 16000;
   };
};
client {
   syncPing = 1;
   type = "xDSL 128/128 Kbit/s";
   livePing = 15;
   port = 10308;
   server = "89.108.86.119";
   serverList = {
       [1] = "192.168.178.200";
       [2] = "84.105.135.8";
       [3] = "193.122.208.163";
       [4] = "89.108.86.119";
       [5] = "201.210.89.69";
       [6] = "90.13.24.23";
       [7] = "85.97.129.4";
       [8] = "66.165.113.50";
       [9] = "86.56.26.89";
       [10] = "217.136.28.8";
   };
};
server {
   type = "xDSL 2048/2048 Kbit/s";
   name = "LockOn Server";
   maxPlayers = 32;
   port = 10308;
   pingUpdate = 30;
   interface = "All interfaces";
};

The only lines I have changed are the two lines in bold. But I only changed them after it stopped working.

[GGTharos]

Yep, that's what I meant :)

 

Alright, so this file appears healthy. Hm.